Avantia Accelerates Global Growth with New US Office, Leadership Expansion, and Strategic Financing from HSBC Innovation Banking

July 21 2025 – Avantia has today announced the opening of a new office in New York, two key senior leadership appointments, and a venture debt facility from HSBC Innovation to support continued investment in its proprietary AI workflow platform, Ava.

Together, these milestones mark a major step forward in Avantia’s global growth strategy - strengthening its presence in the US, scaling its leadership team, and backing the technology that powers its unique service model for private equity and asset management clients.

 To lead its growing Contracts practice in the Americas, Avantia has appointed Walt Nichols as Managing Director, Contracts – Americas. Walt brings over 15 years of experience as legal counsel, specialising in complex contract management and negotiations for private equity. His appointment reflects Avantia’s commitment to scaling its legal services offering across the US market.

 In addition, Patrick Daniel, formerly Managing Director, Compliance, has been promoted to Senior Vice President and appointed to the firm’s executive leadership team. Over the past year, Patrick has significantly expanded Avantia’s compliance function, building out a high-performing team and helping the firm support clients facing growing regulatory demands across all jurisdictions.

 “This is a pivotal moment for Avantia as we scale globally,” said James Sutton, CEO & Founder of Avantia. “Walt and Patrick bring extensive expertise and a clear strategic focus as we continue to grow. Patrick’s contributions in building an industry-leading compliance practice have been fundamental to our success, and Walt’s leadership will be key as we expand our US contracts offering.

 These leadership changes are underpinned by new strategic financing from HSBC Innovation Banking, which will support the expansion of Avantia’s teams across the US and Europe and accelerate investment in Ava, the firm’s proprietary AI workflow platform that enables faster, data-driven delivery of legal and compliance services.

 Sutton said “This financing represents a significant milestone in our journey. It allows us to invest further in Ava and continue building a legal and compliance platform that delivers smarter, faster, and more practical solutions for our clients in the Americas and Europe.”

 These announcements reflect Avantia’s long-term commitment to redefining legal and compliance services — combining extensive expertise with smart technology, operational excellence, and a relentless focus on client outcomes.

About Avantia

Founded in 2019, Avantia is transforming legal services through AI and technology. Specialising in legal, compliance, and investor services for asset managers, Avantia combines lawyer-led expertise with proprietary AI to streamline administrative-heavy workflows.

With over 150 clients across the US, EMEA, and APAC, including many of the world’s largest asset managers, Avantia’s managed service solution reduces the burden on in-house legal and compliance teams, covering both high-volume and transactional workstreams. By leveraging AI, Avantia’s lawyers are able to access and analyse more data than traditional firms, enabling faster, more informed decision-making for their clients.

Media enquiries: Laurence Baker, VP, Marketing. laurence@avantialaw.com